STXNEWS LATAM-Brazil corporate defaults fall in August, Serasa says

Loan defaults and other bills in arrears at Brazilian companies
fell 8.5 percent in August from July, credit research company
Serasa Experian said on Monday. Defaults rose 5.5 percent last
month from August 2013. The drop followed a 12.9 percent spike
in July, the biggest increase for the month since the data
series began in 2000. Brazil's economic slowdown, combined with
higher interest rates and wages, has lifted corporate defaults
by 6.7 percent in the first eight months of 2014 compared to the
same period of last year, Serasa said.